CAGW has this to say about the dire need to equip this spending committee with fiscally responsible representatives:

Dear __,Right now, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is seeking to be placed on the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Flake has been the House's leading champion for smaller, less wasteful government and has helped spearhead the drive to restore fiscal discipline in Washington.I urge you, before you do anything else today, to write the Republican Steering Committee and urge them to place Rep. Jeff Flake on the House Appropriations Committee! Rep. Flake has an unblemished record on congressional earmarks, having never requested a single pork-barrel project, and has been a tireless advocate on behalf of all taxpayers. The explosion of earmarks over the 12 years of Republican leadership corresponded with a collapse of fiscal restraint and personal ethics in Congress. While some have argued that the cost of earmarks represents aninsignificant portion of total federal spending, they ignore the outsized role earmarks play as the "currency of corruption" in Washington. They also ignore - at their own peril - how "Bridges to Nowhere" and other poster children for pork undermine the public's image of Congress.If Republicans wish to restore fiscal discipline and end the culture of corruption that has consumed Washington, Rep. Flake boasts the credentials to help lead the way. If appointed to the Appropriations Committee, he will help restore integrity to theappropriations process and refocus Congress's role on issues of national importance, not on parochial concerns better left to state and local governments, such as bike paths, teapot museums, and peanut festivals.Time is of the essence. Please tell the Republican Steering Committee to place Rep. Flake on the House Appropriations Committee today!Sincerely,Thomas A. Schatz, President